Martin Family Update August, 2008-2

Forgot to attach the promised picture! Here it is...

Martin Family Update August, 2008

/Bryan and Jacinda Martin are on a church planting team serving in the
Philippines since 2002 with World Team (www.worldteam.org)/

Greetings to all from Panganiban, the hard way to say "Payo".

THE BATTLE FOR SLEEP
As parents of a 7 year old, a 5 year old, and a 5 month old baby, we
know that we are not the only ones who are having a little trouble
sleeping. There are some additional enemies in the battle for sleep
that we have encountered since arriving in Payo:
Roosters - I don't know what kind of rooster only crows in the morning
when the sun comes up, or where that myth came from, but the roosters
here crow ALL NIGHT LONG. Men here like to raise them to fight in a
competition and make bets on which one will win, so there are a LOT of
roosters here.
Electricity - Why would electricity have an impact on sleeping? The
other day the temperature got up to 97 with 80-90 percent humidity, and
at night it went all the way down to 90. Most people here cannot sleep
in that kind of heat, myself included! So when the electricity goes off
and the fans go off, we just sit on the tile floor and fan our kids so
thy don't wake up.
Events - What do you do in the middle of nowhere, with no movie theater,
no fast food, no entertainment... you have events! This means that you
must have big sound, that way the whole town can hear that you are
having an event and can come participate. And yes, we can hear it from
our house, too, usually until 3:00am.

PTA OFFICER INDUCTIONS
We have the privilege of being invited and participating in our PTA
officer inductions. Since we arrived after the elections for the PTA,
we do not hold any of the important titles like president or treasurer.
In her absence, however, Jacinda was voted to be the "Muse", and I her
escort. If you don't know what a Muse is, look it up on the
Miriam/Webster <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muse> online
dictionary and
you'll get the idea. Fortunately for us (and for those watching) we
weren't required to perform a "special number" this year. These events
are a great way to be involved in the community and to get to know the
parents of Imogen and Arwen's friends at school.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Since we arrived a couple of weeks into the school year, we had to rush
to get all of the school supplies that our kids needed: pencils, paper,
folders, backpacks, and a 12" long knife. Actually it is a machete, or
itak as it is called here. Any student who does not bring their machete
to school gets marked down in their grades. The kids use these to do
gardening and weeding at their school. We will have to make sure that
Imogen does not put her machete in her backpack when she goes to school
again in California!

MINISTRY AND RESPONSIBILITY
We have been busy getting back into ministry again here in Payo, and it
will take us a while to get our bearings. A lot of things change in a
year, and some things don't change at all. Our current field director
is on home assignment in California for a year. Just before we left
California to come back, we got word that our Interim Field Director
(filling in for the FD who is on home assignment), whose name is Bob
French (some of you may have met him) was diagnosed with prostate
cancer. The treatments are intense enough that he was advised to get
rid of stress as much as possible, so I was asked to be the "Acting
Field Director" while Bob is unable to perform in that role. So that
makes me the Acting Field Director to the Interim Field Director to the
Field Director. Since there is only so much I can do in that role from
our location in Payo, it has only had a small effect on my ability to be
involved in the ministry here. I do need prayer for wisdom as I am
tasked with managing various conflicts and issues that arise, and also
that Bob would make a full recovery.

Attached is a picture of Imogen as a "pom-pom girl" in our towns Fiesta
parade.

Thank you for all your prayers and support,

Bryan Martin

/To Make a tax-deductible donation to the Martin's ministry in the
Philippines, make checks payable to World Team with Bryan Martin in the
notes section, and send them to: World Team, 1431 Stuckert Road,
Warrington, PA 18976/
To give online, go to: http://www.worldteam.org/content.asp?id=98
/